Radio Leicester Thought for
the Day
© John Denney, 5 February
2002
Collins' new
dictionary has just been published together with its predictions
as to the best word newcomer for the year 2002. Their top
contenders are "In Silico" which refers to computer
programming, and "Pink Viagra", which I won't go into
this early in the day. They've been doing that since 1902,
when the word they predicted was Teddy-Bear. I guess they
got that right. They got "manic depression"
right, too, in 1905. But at various times they predicted
other words that signally failed the test of time. Who
remembers "bovrilize" meaning to condense, or
"groceteria" now superseded by "supermarket"?
Words also change
their meanings over time. "Economist" used to
mean someone who was thrifty, but now it means someone who claims
to know all about wealth and its creation and distribution.
And today's "pundit" is someone who bores television
viewers with his ten-a-penny, saloon-bar opinions about football,
whereas it used to mean a wise and learned man.
Words, of course,
are very important. They can have unexpected force,
provoking strong reactions in the hearer. A Blairite
utterance (oh yes, "Blairite" is a word that crept into
the language in 2000) - anyway, the Prime Minister used the word
"wreckers" in a speech to his supporters last weekend.
And the assembled brothers and sisters took great umbrage at what
they took to be a slur against their good selves.
Christians know
the power of words. The Bible describes the development of
the universe as happening, era by era, day by day, at God's
spoken commands. "Let there be light" starts the
chain of events, and on the sixth day "Let us make man in
our likeness". Words have power. Indeed, the
central figure of Christianity - Jesus Christ Himself - is called
"The Word" in the Bible.
The Apostle James
warned that words can be a dangerous thing. Our tongues can
run away with us and get us into trouble. Have you ever
said the wrong thing to someone? Spoken to someone in such
a way that you've hurt them, even if you didn't mean it? Or
passed on gossip and rumour and untrue stories about someone?
And then it's so hard to put things right. Even if you
apologise straight away, you're left feeling that the apology
sounds thin, that they're thinking, "he really meant
that". And you feel guilty and ashamed. That's
why words can be dangerous: you can so easily end up digging a
hole for yourself. Bad words rebound on you. But so
do good ones. So how about saying something nice to someone
today? Maybe niceness will rebound on you.